One dead, 18 injured in building collapse in Bandra

Mumbai: One person died and 18 were injured after a portion of the ground-plus-two structure collapsed on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday. The incident took place at 12:35 am in the Maharashtra Nagar area at Bandra (west). Soon after the incident, the Mumbai Fire Brigade, police vans and ambulances were rushed to the spot for rescue operations.

The collapsed structure was located alongside an open nullah and the occupants fell into the drain after the building collapsed. The deceased was identified as Shahnawaz Alam (40) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) bulletin said that the cause of death was consumption of drainage water. The civic officials said that Alam died before he could reach the hospital.

All the occupants of the structures were labourers and daily wage workers employed in several construction sites in the same locality.

“It was half an hour past midnight when we heard a loud noise. Many of us came out of our shanties to see what happened when we discovered that their house has fallen,” said Naim Khan, a local resident.

“No families were living in that house and all the occupants were labourers from Bihar and West Bengal. If the incident had happened during the daytime, the number of people who were affected would have been lesser,” said Jehangir Khan, another resident.

The 18 injured were rushed to the local Bhabha Hospital in Bandra and 17 of them were discharged soon after. One person is presently recuperating and is in stable condition.

Hemant Parab, Chief Fire Officer, said that redevelopment works were going on in the plot and some of the neighbouring structures of the building were pulled down by the developer.

“Twenty-two people were living in the structure and the additional two storeys on the top appeared like a poorly built structure that was constructed recently. The adjacent buildings were pulled down recently by a builder and this may have affected the tensile strength of this structure as all the structures and shanties were closely built,” said Parab.

The exact cause is not clear, but one can say that the structure was poorly built and it was challenging to carry out the rescue operation considering it was a congested locality, Parab added.

The rescue operation concluded around 6 am on Thursday.

Civic officials said that the plot on which the collapsed structure was located belonged to the BMC.

“The plot was owned by the BMC, but it was later transferred to Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) which had started redevelopment works on that plot. Currently, some of the structures were taken down and verification and demarcation of the existing structures were ongoing,” said Vinayak Vispute, assistant municipal commissioner, H/West ward, under whose jurisdiction the incident had happened.

Vispute also said that the collapsed structure was on SRA’s list of eligible properties that would be redeveloped.

“An FIR has already been lodged against the private builder who was responsible for the redevelopment. The builder was appointed by SRA, and we will also write to them so that the builder gets blacklisted,” Vispute added.

The occupants and victims who returned to the Maharashtra Nagar neighbourhood post-treatment are currently staying at a makeshift camp that has been set up by the local neighbours.

“The adjacent three-storeyed structure was brought down by the builder last Friday. Since then, our house used to shake often as both the structures were closely built and used to support each other. During midnight, our house started trembling and it came down crashing within seconds before we could realise anything,” said Mohammad Jasruddin, a labourer, and an occupant of the collapsed building.

Aaditya Thackeray, guardian minister of suburban Mumbai, in a tweet said, “As per updates from AMO of Bhabha hospital to disaster management team of @mybmc as well as zonal DCP, @MumbaiPolice one person has unfortunately lost life in the Bandra West house collapse. 16 patients are admitted so far with minor injuries & I pray for their speedy recovery.”

“Tragic structure collapse & loss of 1 life at Shastri Nagar, nr Bandra Rail Stn. I coordinated with BMC, SRA for speedy relief work & treatment to injured. Demanded Police file FIR & investigate. Requested Maha Govt/ Mumbai Collector provide aid & compensation speedily,” local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Shelar tweeted.